Nov 2016 Transactions & Portfolio Update

November is actually a good month to add to my positions in several of my holdings, due to the significant pull back in several REITS counters. However, due to the short of warchest, I didn't manage to add in much into my portfolio.

I have initiated a small position in Frasers L&I Trust by buying into 2300 units at a price of S$0.915 per unit, and also I have added to my position in AIMSAMP Cap REIT by buying another 2000 units at a price of S$1.25 per unit. I have executed both purchase on 29 November 2016, just before the month closes.

Below is an update to my portfolio in November.

Units	Code	Stock	Last	Value	% port.
2500	BN4	Keppel	5.45	13625	9.96%
6000	C38U	CMT	1.95	11700	8.56%
8000	O5RU	AIMS	1.295	10360	7.58%
12200	S6NU	Croesus	0.84	10248	7.49%
5000	J69U	FCT	1.95	9750	7.13%
3100	U96	Sembcorp	2.7	8370	6.12%
4000	T82U	Suntec	1.695	6780	4.96%
10000	SV3U	Soilbuild	0.64	6400	4.68%
3000	B2F	M1	1.96	5880	4.30%
13400	N01	NeraTel	0.435	5829	4.26%
4000	N2IU	MCT	1.445	5780	4.23%
6000	RW0U	MGCC	0.965	5790	4.23%
2000	CC3	Starhub	2.88	5760	4.21%
7000	P40U	Starhill	0.755	5285	3.87%
3200	TQ5	Frasers Cpt	1.535	4912	3.59%
12000	D5IU	Lippo	0.38	4560	3.33%
3000	AW9U	First	1.27	3810	2.79%
1000	S63	ST Eng	3.38	3380	2.47%
2000	AU8U	CRCT	1.38	2760	2.02%
1000	C2PU	PLife	2.46	2460	1.80%
2300	BUOU	Frasers L&I	0.92	2116	1.55%
2000	MS7	Vard	0.235	470	0.34%
1000	E5H	GoldAgr	0.43	430	0.31%
5000	T8JU	Saizen	0.056	280	0.20%
				136735	100%

Overall, the portfolio dropped by about S$3.4k or 2.4% month-on-month despite the adding of the 2 counters as mentioned above, due to the drop in several REITS counters, and also not neglecting the overweight in REITS counters in my portfolio. There is a dividend distribution from NeraTel, which resulted in a large decrease in price of this counter.

I will be paying close attention to the progress of the portfolio, especially with the announcement of the 4th Telco and the possible Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December. Hopefully I will be able to add on to my positions with further weakness in price of some counters.

The aim of the portfolio is to generate sufficient income so that I can get out of the rat race.

iPhone Authorized Service Providers - A.Lab and QCD Technology

My 4 year old iPhone 5 front screen is popping up a bit at the top, something like the one shown in picture below, except that mine was at the top.

After some searching on the Internet, I noted that the root cause is due to a bloated battery in the iPhone. I saw some reviews saying that they are able to get their iPhone replaced for free, so decided to try my luck at the (only) 2 authorized service providers in Singapore - A.Lab and QCD Technology.

I decided to book an appointment through their websites before going down to visit the physical center. My first feeling when booking an appointment through A.Lab was that the website was not very user-friendly when I access it through my laptop as basically I could not see any icons on the website, and that the loading took quite long after I entered my serial number. In the end, I resort to booking through my iPhone instead (surely it would allow an iPhone to book an appointment right...). I remembered that the process was not that troublesome last year when I replaced my battery under the iPhone 5 battery replacement program. The appointment booking through QCD Technology was much more straight-forward. Nevertheless, I got both bookings done.

Today is my appointment day for both service centers (in case I was not pleased with the first one, I still have a second opinion). I went to A.Lab first and got my iPhone 5 inspected within 15 minutes after I checked in, and was told that the root cause was a bloated battery. I would need to replace the entire iPhone 5 for a fee of $250. I was appalled by the exorbitant fee that was being asked for an outdated iPhone. I mean who would actually pay $250 to replace an iPhone which was already 4 years old? I would rather spend more money to purchase a brand new iPhone, considering that my mobile contract is also expiring soon.

Not satisfied with the reply I got, I went to QCD Technology and again the process was quite fast. Within 15 minutes, I was out of the service center. As you would have guessed, I got the same reply as well. This time, I was told that it would cost $259 to replace my iPhone 5. It would take about 2-3 weeks for the replacement, and if it was found that there are more problems with the phone, I could be charged more. I probed further on why would the battery become bloated, and the reply I received was that it was being overcharged (e.g. overnight) or some liquid has entered the iPhone. This could happen to a brand new iPhone as well.

The lesson learnt was never to overcharge your iPhone if you don't want to have a bloated battery. Secondly, booking an appointment on the websites is a must if you don't want to wait 1-2 hours just to get your Apple device checked. I managed to breeze through within 15 minutes in each service center, compared to more than 1 hour last year when I walked in to A.Lab for my battery replacement. Another thing I noticed was that QCD Technology at Wheelock is also much bigger than A.Lab at Plaza Singapura.

Now, I'm wondering what have they done to my battery last year... after I sent my phone in for the battery replacement and sleep/wake button replacement... resulting it to become bloated in less than 2 years, compared to my first battery which actually lasted more than 2 years...

POSB Cashback Bonus

It has been slightly more than a month since POSB launched its POSB Cashback Bonus.

Personally, I feel that it is one of the worst scheme out there. This is probably because I do not have a home loan, insurance or investment with POSB. With only a salary credit and credit card spend, I would need to purchase an insurance or investment with POSB before I am entitled to the cashback bonus. Furthermore, I feel that the cashback is quite paltry. One would be able to earn more interest if one were to deposit their money under BOC SmartSaver or OCBC 360 account. In fact, even Maybank SaveUp is much better than POSB Cashback Bonus, if one does not have all 3 criteria in the first place.

 

 

I think that if one does not have all 3 criteria in the first place, one should not even bother to look at this POSB Cashback Bonus. It really felt like an insult to customers POSB is trying hard to attract existing customers who already have several banking services with them to continue to stick with POSB.

 



Frankly speaking, I do not like this promotion at all, especially with all the "Kung Fu" elements that are in it. It is like... seriously, what has Kung Fu got to do with banking??

I would think that the team behind this promotion should go and reflect themselves deeply to understand more on what customers really want, and also come up with more appropriate advertising materials rather than linking unrelated stuff together and presenting to customers in what seems like a promotion put together in a couple of days. Definitely there are much room for improvement in this area, especially when its competitors are already forging much ahead in their high interest savings accounts.

On the other hand, those people who already have several banking services with POSB would definitely not give this scheme a miss, since the cashback which they will receive every month would be like for "free". For those who are interested, you may want to explore this link:
http://www.posb.com.sg/personal/landing/cashback-bonus/index.html?pid=sg-posb-pweb-bankhome-heroblock-deposits-cashback-bonus-btnlearnmore

DBS Credit and Debit Cards Promotion

DBS is having an attractive promotion for its credit and debit cards.

http://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/promotion/cards-signup?pid=sg-dbs-pweb-cardscc-cards-blackcard-slideupbanner

This is got to be the most attractive cashback promotion for applying for a new credit card. If you are aware of credit card promotions from banks, most of them would offer cashback of $80 to $120 for new sign-ups. But for $160 is really something which I did not hear of for a very long time. The criteria is of course you must be a new DBS/POSB credit card member, and you must spend a minimum of $500 within the first month of card approval. It must also be applied through online without any sales assistance so as to get the full $160 cashback for new customers.

As I already have an existing credit card with the bank, I can only enjoy the promotion of up to $100 cashback. This would mean an effective 20% off my purchase in the first month when I spend $500 to be eligible for the cashback.

If you are not into credit cards, not to worry, as DBS has another promotion relating to its debit card.

We seldom see banks have any promotion on their debit cards, but here it is.

http://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/promotion/visa-debit-20-cashback?pid=sg-dbs-pweb-cardsdebit-cards-double-your-rewards-slideupbanner

Well, of course there are terms and conditions, which is to charge $100 to the card within 1 month of card approval date. This gives an effective 20% off your purchase as well.

I would say that the promotions are aiming to give customers free money get customers to spend with their credit and debit cards, so as to boost their earnings. At the same time, customers would get to enjoy cashback as well. It is a win-win situation.

I have already applied for the cards, and hopefully will get them by next week. Looking forward to the next exciting promotion, and I will share them with you here once I find it.


P.S. This is not a sponsored post. I'm sharing this post because I feel that it is really a good deal and good things must share. If DBS wants to offer me something more because of this post, feel free to contact me :)

Free Credit Report

Have you look at your credit report yet?

If not, you can get a chance to get it for free from now till Dec 2016.

SingSaver is having a Credit Awareness Campaign, whereby all you need to do is to follow the instructions on https://www.singsaver.com.sg/blog/singsaver-credit-awareness-campaign?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=Organic&utm_campaign=CBSCampaign to get your free credit report.

I have gotten mine and below is my score.



I have 0.08% probability of default, and I achieved the highest possible score of 2000 and a risk grade of AA.

How about you? Get your credit report today before the promotion ends!

Portfolio Tracker

What is the tracker you use to track your portfolio?

For me, I'm using SGXcafe. I think it is certainly one of the best free portfolio tracker one can find in Singapore context. It has some pretty cool features, such as tracking the monthly dividends you are getting, as well as tracking your portfolio performance against the index. Besides, it also allows one to use its iAssist function to filter stocks in one's watchlist and portfolio, and recommend which are the stocks which maximize your returns while you diversify.

Why not give it a try?

Below is a snapshot of my portfolio compared with the STI.

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS)

I have opened a SRS account with DBS since 3 December 2014. It has served me well by reducing the amount of tax being paid, although I'm not in the high tax bracket anyway.

This year, I have decided to participate in their promotion, which allows one to receive S$50 when one contributes to one's SRS account.

Although I don't really need to contribute the maximum limit in order to get into the tax bracket of my preference, I still contribute the amount anyway, as the ideal limit is not very far away from the maximum limit.

For those interested, you may visit this website to get more details:
https://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/promotion/srs-promo

Do note that the promotion is only applicable to the first 2000 customers. So act fast.

Outpatient Flexi-Medisave for the Elderly

Flexi-Medisave can be used for visits for outpatient medical treatment starting from 1 April 2015.

Came to know about this only today. It is for elderly aged 65 years and above, and each patient can use up to $200 of Medisave a year.

Flexi-Medisave can be used for outpatient medical treatment at designated healthcare institutions. For a start, these are:
        a.    Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs) at the public hospitals and national specialty centres;
        b.    Polyclinics; and
        c.    Medical GP clinics participating in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS).

Source: MOH


I would think that this is a good initiative, since ultimately, even if there is no money in one's Medisave account, one has to fork out real cash anyway. Also, I believe those who visited the clinics are of genuine cases, so it justifies the need to pay.

BigFatPurse Investors Conference 2016

Hi all

I've won a ticket to BigFatPurse Investors Conference 2016.

It will be held tomorrow 5 Nov (Sat), 1pm to 5pm at Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) Lecture Theatre Level 2 (Lift Lobby B), 11 Eunos Road 8, Singapore 408601.

Registration starts from 12.30pm.


Due to some personal commitment, I am unable to go to the conference, even though I really want to. As such, I'm giving away my ticket. Do be fast as I only have 1 ticket, and it is based on a first-come first-serve basis. Do check that you are in Singapore and that you are free tomorrow from 1pm to 5pm though.

Interested party please send an email with your Full Name and contact number to james.lee866@gmail.com


For more information on the BigFatPurse Investors Conference 2016, you may visit this website:
https://www.bigfatpurse.com/2016/10/what-is-the-bigfatpurse-investors-conference-2016/

BOC SmartSaver

With the creation of this blog, I will concentrate most of my blog posts in local context (Singapore).

As a start, I would like to talk about this bank account which everyone is talking about, especially with their recent revision in the features.

For those who don't know about SmartSaver yet, it is a high interest savings account by Bank of China (at least for now).

It offers savers a high interest rate of 3.55% p.a., the highest possible interest rate in town, with just salary crediting of minimum S$2k, spending of S$500 per month using their debit and/or credit card (yes, payment through AXS is counted as well), and performing 3 bill payments. Most people could easily achieve these to earn the high interest rates. However, it is sad to see that they are revising their terms from 1 Dec.
 

From what we can see above, it seems like BOC has really done a great job in studying the market condition as well as their competitors. To me, I feel that they have tweaked the interest rates in such a nice way (to them) that it is not too low for people to close their accounts and transfer their money out, while not too high for them to feel the pressure in providing the interests in such a low interest rate environment. At the same time, they can even boost their credit cards spending and make it more sticky for their customers to stick with the bank. This is really Smart on their part, and I really have to congratulate them on this. Their management should be very proud of themselves.

I have been using this account for only a few months, and in retrospect, how I wish I have opened the account earlier so as to enjoy the high interest rates for the full year, and even probably receive the free $100 NETS Flashpay card. Anyway, it is too late to say anything now.

I would think that I will not be closing this account soon, due to the still-higher-than-average interest rates in the market. Let's just hope that there will be another interesting alternative to this account soon.

Multiple Streams of Income

Hello Everyone.

Finally I have decided to create a blog. Frankly speaking, the creation of this blog is inspired by giraffevalue.com and turtleinvestor.net

Seeing that they are earning a side income each month makes me wants to create a blog and earn a side income too. I'm also an avid reader of AK's blog. If you read financial blogs, AK should not be unfamiliar to you.

The purpose of this blog is to advocate multiple streams of passive income, no matter how small they are, so as to pay daily expenses (think about phone bills, transport fares, utility bills, urgh...)

I will be blogging about how to create multiple streams of income from scratch, and will be tracking the progress as the months go by. The following are some ways which I can think of now to create multiple streams of income:

1) Google AdSense
2) RedMart
3) Monumetric
4) Travel Smart Rewards

And of course there will be dividends from REITS and dividend stocks.

Having researched a bit, I realized that Google AdSense would require at least 6 months of active blogging, and Monumetric actually requires a site to have at least 10K page views and above. I guess for now I would have to concentrate on boosting readership first.

I am just starting this journey, and this would require great determination, especially at the early stage of the blog.

Hope you enjoy my blog! :)